Ezekiel 3:22-27

IV. THE RESTRICTION ON SERVICE 3:22-27

TRANSLATION

(22) And the hand of the LORD came upon me there, and He said unto me, Rise, go out into the plain, and there I will speak with you. (23) And I arose and went out unto the plain, and behold there the glory of the I,ORD was standing as the glory which I saw beside the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face. (24) And the Spirit came on me and made me stand upon my feet, and He spoke to me, and said unto me, Go shut yourself up in the midst of your house. (25) And as for you, son of man, behold fetters will be placed upon you, and you shall not go out in their midst. (26) And your tongue shall cleave unto the roof of your mouth so that you will be dumb and you shall not become to them a man of reproof for they are a rebellious house. (27) But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD. The one who hears, let him hear, and the one who desists let him desist; for they arc a rebellious house.

COMMENTS

The protracted period of commissioning comes to an end in this paragraph.[131], [132] Following the lesson at Tel-abib the hand of the Lord, i.e., the power and guiding influence of God,[133] came upon Ezekiel. He was told to go out into the plain. There God would teach Ezekiel yet another lesson about his ministry (Ezekiel 3:22). The word plain means literally valley, the area between two mountains. This may well have been a site frequented by Ezekiel in his periods of solitude.[134] It may well have been in this same valley that Ezekiel later received his vision of dry bones (Ezekiel 37:1).

[131] According to the great Jewish commentator Kimchi, none of the incidents in Chapter s 1-11 were performed, but were only suggested to Ezekiel in his vision. According to this view, Ezekiel 3:22-27 serves as introduction to Chapter s 4-24.

[132] Some commentators postulate a time gap between Ezekiel 3:21 and Ezekiel 3:22 during which Ezekiel conducted a ministry as a Watchman. The chronology of the book doe not allow for a significant interval at this point.

[133] Cf. Blachwood (EPH, p. 54) who thinks the hand of the Lord refers to an inward, spiritual experience. Blackwood follows Davidson in contending that Ezekiel's trip to the plain did not involve any physical motion.

[134] Taylor. TOTC, p. 72.

Ezekiel complied with the divine command. When he reached the designated spot he saw a second vision of the glory of the Lord. The vision was very much like that which he had seen by the Chebar. While modern commentators seem to focus on the various aspects of the heavenly throne-chariot the wheels and living creatures Ezekiel sums up the whole of that vision by his reference to the One who rode the chariot the glory of the Lord. As on the earlier occasion, Ezekiel reacted to this majestic manifestation by falling on his face (Ezekiel 3:23). Again the Holy Spirit entered into Ezekiel giving him the strength and confidence to stand on his feet.

Ezekiel now received a new command. He was told to shut himself within his house (Ezekiel 3:24). There he would be bound with fetters (Ezekiel 3:25). NO evidence exists that Ezekiel was ever literally bound by his auditors. The fetters must be symbolic or metaphorical of self-imposed (or God-imposed) restraint. It would appear that Ezekiel's movements outside his house were to be severely restricted, if not actually curtailed.

Divine restrictions were placed upon the speech of Ezekiel as well as on his movements. His tongue would cleave unto the roof of his mouth. Because of the rebelliousness of the house of Israel the prophet should and would be silent. During that period of self-imposed (or God-imposed) dumbness he would not serve as a man of reproof to them. This ministry of silence seems to have been intended to demonstrate to the exiles that they were indeed a rebellious house (Ezekiel 3:26)[135]

[135] Keil (SCOT, I. 65) suggests that the silence also was designed to help prepare Ezekiel for the successful performance of his ministry.

The interpretation of the present paragraph is extremely difficult. The problem lies not so much in what is said though that is difficult enough but in the timing of it. How can the previous commands to preach the word be squared with the thought that Ezekiel was to be dumb? How can his being bound with cords be harmonized with subsequent Chapter s which show him moving about freely? Those who have wrestled with these questions may be divided into two broad categories.
First, there are those who think in terms of a literal period of silence. Even among those who hold to a literal period of silence at least four different positions have been taken
1 Some think the episode is chronologically out of place and that this command in reality was issued after chapter 24. The passage has been placed in its present position because of topical considerations, It does, after all, partake of the nature of a commission.
2 Others would suggest that there was a period of dumbness prior to the launching of the ministry of proclamation. This would be the obvious solution to the problem were it not for the difficulty of finding time for such a period of dumbness in the known chronology of Ezekiel's life.
3 David Kimchi offered the intriguing suggestion that the silence was divinely imposed so as to prevent Ezekiel from speaking until he had received the entire revelation which God reveals in Chapter s 1-11. In other words, he was not to speak prematurely.
4. Finally, there are those who suggest that the silence was the first of a series of prophecies which Ezekiel acted out.
A second broad category of commentators see the fetters on Ezekiel as symbolic or metaphorical. These scholars see the restraint upon the prophet as a symbol of the extreme and bitter opposition of his fellow exiles to his prophesying. Ezekiel was to preach, but the exiles would not listen. Since no real communication would take place, it would be as though Ezekiel were dumb. Still others interpret the entire passage as saying simply that Ezekiel would refuse to speak to his neighbors about ordinary matters. He would speak only when he had a divine revelation.
In view of this plethora of interpretations, what can be said about the true import of this passage? Taken at face value the words seem to mean that Ezekiel would only communicate with his fellow exiles at such times as he had a divine communication to share with them.[136] From time to time God would commit to His Watchman a revelation which was to be passed on to the captives. Ezekiel was to preface every spoken word with Thus says the Lord (Ezekiel 3:27),

[136] The dumbness was therefore unlike that imposed on Zechariah the father of John the Baptist (Luke 1:20).

The silence of Ezekiel was to last for a limited time. When Jerusalem fell six years later the restraints were removed from the prophet (Ezekiel 33:22).[137] This was, to use the language of Taylor, ritual dumbness. Ezekiel did not suffer from catalepsy or some nervous disorder. Rather the idea is that he was to speak only when under a divine compulsion to do so.

[137] There are two references along the way to the prophet's silenceEzekiel 24:27 and Ezekiel 29:21.

The reaction of men to these God-given pronouncements would confirm men in their attitude toward God. Men would either hear and obey it, or they would ignore and despise it (Ezekiel 3:27). In the former case they would find grace and favor; in the latter, condemnation and judgment. By his preaching and non-preaching Ezekiel was again and again to confront his auditors with the life and death alternatives.